Clothes wringer



June 5, .1923. 1,457,419

T. w. BEHAN CLOTHES WRINGER Original Filed Dec. 29. 1920 Patented June5, 1923.

THOMAS w.- BEHAN, or BINGHAMTON, NEW Yon CLOTHES warns-13R.

Application filed December 29, 1920, Serial No. 433,773. Renewed Qctober30, 1922. 'Serial No. 597,920

To all whomit may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. BEI-IAN, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Binghamton, in the county of Brooms and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ClotheslVringers, of which the following is a description.

My invention relates to clothes wringers and particularly. to safetydevices by means of which the pressure between the wringer rolls may bereleased in case of an emerency, as, for example, when an operatorsfinger gets caught between the rolls.

The object of my invention is to provide a safety device of thischaracter which shall be reliable and instantaneous, and which can beoperated with aminimum of effort.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is anelevation, partly. in section,of a wring-er embodying my'invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentarysectional view of my invention; and Fig. 3 is a sectional view takenonthe line III-III of Fig. 2.

The wringer to which my invention is applied, as shown herein includesthe usual rolls 1, 2, which may be geared together and driven manuallyor from any suitable source of power] The bearings for oneof theserolls, int-his case the upper one, are slidable I vertically and arepressed toward the other roll-by compression springs, one of which isshown at .3. The opposite ends of these springs press against .the ends4 of-the levers 5' which are pivoted to the frame at 6. The ends 7 oftheselevers are supported by the nut 8 upon the bolt 9. This bolt 9 isnormallysupportedby the sleeve 10 and is provided at thetop with a handwheel or similar device 11, so that it may berotated to raise orlowerthenut 8 and thus regulate the pressure between the wringer rolls 1and 2.

The sleeve 10 is slidably mounted in the frame of the wringer and isnormally held in its elevated position by a releasable device. When thisdevice is released the sleeve 10, carrying with it the bolt 9 and nut 8,is allowed to descend, and as a result the levers 5 are free to turnabout their pivots 6 to release the pressure between the wringer rolls.

All of the above mechanism is old and is here described only toillustrate one form of releasable wringer to which the particular formof releasing device which constitutes my invention, may be applied.

As shown in the drawings, the sleeve 10 is provided with a notch 12. Theretaining or tripping device heretofore used in con} nection' with thewringer above described hasbeen in the form "of'a single integral bellcrank lever pivoted to the *frame 'o f the w'ringer, one'end of thelever'fittin'g in the notch 12 andithe other end being arranged to bestruck by the hand toremove the first mentionedend from the notch forreleasing the .sleeve. It has been found in practice, however, that anextremely heavy downward pressure is exerted by the sleeve. upon thetripping-lever, especially at times when it: be

comes'necessaryzto operate the trip dueto theoperat ors fingers, or anexcessively thick pieceof material, becoming wedged between the rolls.Asa result it often requires more force'than the ordinary operator canexert to operate theform of trip abovedes'cribed. That, of course,seriously detracts from its usefulness as a'safety device. Furthermore,it has been found that there, is a considerable wear of the materialbetween the notch 12and the contiguous end of the tripping lever. l

To obviate these and other obj ections'to the integral .trippinglever, Ihave provided, in

lieu-thereof, the toggle form of tripping device which lshall nowdescribe. This device includes the lever 13, which is pivoted at 14 tothe frame of the wringer and which maybe bifurcated ,atthetop, if

desired. Pivoted to this lever .at 15, .nearits upper end, istthe lug16adaptedto rest in the notch 12 as indicatedin the drawing To removethe. lug 16 from the notch 12, I employ the bell'crank lever 17 whichisalso,

pivoted to the frame at 14, andthe shortend- 18 of which contacts withthe lower extensi0n19 of the pivoted lug 12. This lever 17 isnormallyheldin the position shown in the drawing by=,the spring 20. 4

As appears clearly from the drawing the lug l6 and the lever 13 formtogether what is in efiect a toggle, normally unbroken. Owing to thepositioning of these members this toggle will resist any amount ofvertical pressure from the sleeve 10 without breaking. This is dueto thefact that when the toggle is in its supporting position its hinge orelbow 15 is very slightly to the right (as viewed in Fig. 1) of the lineof pressure exerted by the sleeve 10 upon the toggle. Accordingly thenormal effect of this pressure is to force the lug 16 more tightlyagainst the sleeve and not to break the toggle. However, when it isdesired to release the sleeve 10, it requires but slight pressure uponthe lever 17 to cause the end 18 contacting with the lug 16 to move thelug so that the elbow 15 is moved to the left of the line of pressureand the tog le is broken, with the result that the sleeve is immediatelyand completely released, the lever 13 moving about its pivot in acounter clockwise direction and the lug 16 moving about its pivot in aclockwise direction. l preferably provide a stop, such as indicated at21, to limit the movement of the lug 16 about its pivot.

To reset the sleeve 10, it is necessary merely to unscrew the bolt 9slightly by means of the hand wheel 11 and then raise it sufficiently sothat the spring 17, interposed between the frame and the lower end oflever 13, may restore the toggle to its supporting position. Thereafterthe pressure between the rolls may be regulated as desired bymanipulation of the hand wheel 11.

The terms and expressions which I have employed are used as terms ofdescription and not of limitation, and I have no intention, in the useof such terms and expressions, of excluding any equivalent of the features shown and described, or portions thereof, but recognize thatvarious modifications are possible within the scope of the inventionclaimed.

lVhat I claim is:

1. In a 'ivringer or the like provided with a pair of parallel rolls andreleasably supported means for exerting pressure between said rolls, thecombination of a supporting device for said means, said device includinga toggle which is unbroken when in supporting position, and manuallyoperable means independent of said toggle for breaking said toggle torelease said first mentioned means.

2. In a wringer or the like provided With a pair o'i'i' parallel rollsand releasably supported means for exerting pressure between said rolls,the combination or a supporting device for said means, said deviceincluding a toggle which is unbroken when in supporting position andwhich is so arranged that the application of pressure through said meansdoes not tend to break it, and manually operable means independent ofsaid toggle for breaking said toggle to release said first mentionedmeans.

3. In a wringer or the like provided with a pair of parallel rolls andreleasably supported means for exerting pressure between said rolls, thecombination of a supporting device for said means, said device includinga lever pivoted to the wringer frame, a lug pivoted to said lever and insupporting contact with said means, said lug and lever constituting atoggle, and a manually operable means for breaking said toggle torelease said mentioned means.

4:. In a wringer or the like provided with a pair of parallel rolls andreleasably sup ported means for exerting pressure between said rolls,the combination of a supporting device tor said means, said deviceincluding a lever pivoted to the wringer frame, a lug pivoted to saidlever and in supporting contact with said means, said lug and leverconstituting a toggle, and a manually operable lever also pivoted to thewringer frame to breaking said toggle to release said first mentionedmeans.

In a wringer or the like provided with a pair of parallel rolls andreleasablv supported means for exerting pressure between said rolls, thecombination of a supporting device for said means, said device includinga lever pivoted to the wringer t'rame, a lug pivoted to said lever andin supporting contact with said means, said lug and lever constituting atoggle, and manually operable means adapted to contact with said lug andmove it angularly with relation to said lever to break said toggle andthereby release said first mentioned means.

6. In a wringer or the like provided with a pair of parallel rolls andreleasably supported means for exerting pressure between said rolls, thecombination of a supporting device for said means, said deviceincluding: a lever pivoted to the wringer frame, a lug pivoted to saidlever and in supporting con tact with saidmeans, said lug and leverconstituting a toggle, manually operable means adapted to contact withsaid lug and move it angularly with relation to said lever to break saidtoggle and thereby release said first mentioned means. and spring meansfor restoring said lever and lug to supporting po

